Combined boat fender and emergency ladder

ABSTRACT

A boat fender (1) is provided with footstep or handgrip openings (8, 9) at its top and bottom to serve as a ladder for assisting an overboard person. The fender may further be made of two easily separable body members (3, 4), with one of them being hollow and storing a folded rop ladder (6) coupled to the other one.

The present invention relates to fenders and has for its object toprovide a fender which may be used also as a life-saving equipment. Theinventive concept is based on the following factual circumstances andconclusions.

When a person falls overboard from a boat the usual method of assistinghim is from the boat to through out a life-buoy or the one end of arope. This obviously requires that aboard the boat there is someindividual which both becomes aware of the situation and is capable oftaking suitable measures. Consequently, these conditions are notsatisfied when the person who has fallen into the water was either theonly one aboard or accompanied by small children only. It may even occurthat the accident is not observed if the other persons aboard are eitherasleep or the environmental conditions suppress cries for help, e.g.during extreme weather conditions or when there is a high backgroundnoise. Such a situation becomes especially critical when the watertemperature is low because a person in the water may then becomeunconscious after 5-10 minutes. Consequently, there exists a need ofmaking it possible for a person, who has fallen overboard from a boat,without any assistance from others to return aboard. The inventiveconcept is based on the realization that a fender, suspended at the sideof a boat, can be given another function in addition to its primary one,namely be arranged so that it may also serve as a ladder. It shouldalready here be underlined that the function of the device may be verydifferent according to different embodiments of the invention and thelocal conditions, especially the distance of the fender from the watersurface, the freeboard of the boat etcetera. However, a device accordingto the invention always provides a possibility quickly to grip an objectwhich is located between the water surface and the boat deck and which,at least in the majority of cases, makes it possible for the person inthe water himself to climb back aboard.

The invention will now be described in greater detail by reference tothe drawing illustrating two embodiments thereof.

FIG. 1 shoes diagrammatically a section of the one side of a boat havingtwo fenders according to the first embodiment of the invention. The onefender is shown in its normal position and the other one in itsactivated state. To the left there is a figure showing, on a greaterscale, a vertical section through the fender.

FIG. 2 illustrates the second embodiment of the invention.

In FIG. 1 there have been shown two fenders 1, each suspended in a line2. The fender to the left is in its normal position, whereas the fenderto the right is activated. The fender comprises an upper portion 3 and alower portion 4 which normally are held together by a snapping action,e.g. in the way that the lower portion has an annular ridge cooperatingwith a groove in the upper portion as shown at 5 in the enlargedsectional view to the left. According to the embodiment of FIG. 1 theupper portion 3 has an inner cavity housing a rope ladder 6. The upperportion has an aperture 7 for the suspending line 2 and a greateraperture 8 which may serve as a footstep. Also the lower portion 4 hassuch a footstep aperture 9.

The mode of operation of the device shown in FIG. 1 is as follows. Whena person in the water wants to use the device he inserts one hand intothe aperture 9 and pulls downwards. This releases the snapping lock 5whereby the lower portion 4 falls down, now connected with the upperportion by means of the rope ladder 6. The person in distress may thenuse the aperture 9, the rope ladder 6 and the aperture 8 to climb backaboard. It should be observed that it is not necessary for component 6to be shaped like a conventional rope ladder. Thus, it may alternativelyconsist of a single line having loops or other suitable means which mayserve as footsteps.

In the embodiment according to FIG. 2 the fender 1 is not divided intotwo portions as was the case in FIG. 1. It may actually to a greatextent be of conventional design. However, it does in two importantrespects differ from conventional fenders. The one difference is that ithas handgrip openings 8 and 9. The second difference is that it has twosuspending lines, namely in addition to line 2 also a considerablythinner line 10 of such a length that, during normal conditions, thefender will be suspended at a suitable distance above the water surface.Line 10 may be given a maximum tensile strength of about 60 lbs.Consequently, if a person in the water inserts his one hand into opening9 and pulls downwards with a force at least corresponding to thejust-mentioned value, line 10 will burst and the fender will thereafterinstead be suspended in the longer and stronger rope 2 as has been shownto the right in FIG. 2. The person may then use openings 9 and 8 asfootsteps in the way described above in relation to FIG. 1.

It should be noted that the two embodiments of the invention hereillustrated are intended to exemplify the inventive idea only meaningthat the detailed design of the fender may be varied in severalrespects. The rather simple design of FIG. 2 is suitable together withboats having a low freeboard whereas the embodiment of FIG. 1 ispreferred together with bigger boats. As has already been mentioned, theappearance of rope ladder 6 may be modified. The same applies to thelocking device 5. Alternatively, the latter may operate in such a waythat the lower portion is released from the upper portion by a turningmovement rather than by pulling. It may also be suitable to give thelower portion 4 a smaller diameter than that of the upper portion 3 inorder to minimize the risk of unintentional release when the device isexposed to lateral forces, i.e. when it acts as a fender.

Finally, it should be mentioned that a fender according to the inventionmay be used as a life-saving equipment in two further respects as well.One such possibility is the following one. One may pull a fender asshown in FIG. 1 apart, grip its one half and swing the other halfaround, the two portions being interconnected by the rope ladder.

When the device then is released it will, thanks to the contributionfrom the centrifugal force, possess a dynamic energy which makes itpossible to throw it also to a distressed person at a rather longdistance from the boat. The person in the water may then use the fenderas a life-buoy. The second way of use is to have a long thin lineconnected to the device so that the person in the water can be pulled tothe side of the boat. In any case, thanks to its lower weight, a deviceaccording to the invention can be thrown a considerably longer distancethan a conventional life-buoy. An alternative way of expressing thatadvantage would be to say that it will be easier for children and forother persons with modest physical strength to assist a distressedperson in the water.

We claim:
 1. A combined marine fender and emergency ladder device,comprising:(a) an elongate body member (1) having a verticalcross-section greater than a horizontal cross-section, (b) means (7) atan upper end of the body member for securing one end of a line (2) suchthat the body member may be suspended from a rail of a boat and hangdown over the side of the boat hull to cushion impacts against otherboats, pilings, and the like, and (c) a pair of horizontally elongateapertures (8,9) individually defined in opposite, upper and lower endsof the body member sufficiently large to serve as footsteps and/orhandgrips to assist a person in the water, wherein: (d) the body membercomprises readily separable upper and lower portions (3,4), (e) one ofsaid portions defines an internal cavity, and further comprising: (f) acollapsible ladder (6) stored in said cavity and having opposite endsindividually connected to said upper and lower portions such that uponthe separation of said portion, as by a person in the water grasping andpulling on a lower one (9) of said apertures, the ladder becomes fullyextended.
 2. A device according to claim 1, wherein the ladder is a ropeladder.
 3. A device according to claim 1, wherein the upper and lowerbody member portions are releasably coupled together by snap-lock means(5).
 4. A combined marine fender and emergency ladder device,comprising:(a) an elongate body member (1) having a verticalcross-section greater than a horizontal cross-section, (b) means (7) atan upper end of the body member for securing one end of a line (2) suchthat the body member may be suspended from a rail of a boat and hangdown over the side of the boat hull to cushion impacts against otherboats, pilings, and the like, and (c) a pair of horizontally elongateapertures (8,9) individually defined in opposite, upper and lower endsof the body member sufficiently large to serve as footsteps and/orhandgrips to assist a person in the water. (d) wherein said line has ahigh breaking strength, and further comprising, (e) a shorter, lowbreaking strength line (10) coupled to said securing means forsuspending the body member from the boat rail, said low breakingstrength line being rupturable by a person in the water grasping andpulling on a lower one (9) of said apertures such that the body memberis thereafter suspended by the longer, high breaking strength line.